Thursday, October 31, 2013

South African Radio Station Fined for Unflattering Mention of Islam

The Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa(BCCSA) fined in an August 29, 2013 judgment a South African radio broadcaster for making an "unjustifiable connection with Islam" during news reports.

This punitive second-guessing of journalistic conduct with respect to referencing background material such as a religion entails the most negative of consequences for a crucially important unhindered discussion of Islam.

BCCSA fined the public broadcaster SAfm R10,000 each for two violations of South Africa'sBroadcasting Code on May 24, 2013. The complainant, SAMNET (South African Muslim Network), charged in the first instance that a SAfm noon bulletin discussed "immigrants protesting in Switzerland about employment and other issues." The clip stated that the "protesters were not linked to any religion even though some Muslims were present." "By inference…members of other religious groups" unnamed were present. This "blatant prejudicial reporting…casts Muslims in a negative light."

The second SAMNET accusation involved an afternoon news report of two men arrested for endangering a Pakistan-United Kingdom flight. Various news reports described "British nationals" involved in a "criminal offense" with no "terrorism angle." Yet SAfm linked the flight with the May 22 London murder of British soldier Lee Rigby described by SAfm's announcer as "perpetrated by two Islamic extremists." SAMNET objected that no information tied the episode to terrorism or Islam, and thereby "adding to the already anger [sic] against Muslims…after the Boston and Woolwich incidents, SAFM news is perpetuating misconceptions and prejudice."

British soccer club forced to issue apology after using swastika-style logo on club newsletter to supporters

A lot of nonsense. The logo spells MUFC, nothing else

Manchester United were forced to issue an ‘unreserved’ apology last night after using a swastika-style logo in a newsletter to fans.

The Premier League champions published the black and red image in an email sent to millions of supporters worldwide.

It featured the headline ‘New Order’ - a play on the Manchester band with the same name - which was used alongside images of the team’s emerging youth players, including Adnan Januzaj, David de Gea and Danny Welbeck.

But the term is also linked to Nazism because of Adolf Hitler’s call in 1941 for a New Order in Europe and caused widespread outrage among fans who received the United Uncovered e-mail.

Many took to Twitter, prompting the club’s head of media, David Sternberg, to tweet an apology. He said an internal investigation had been launched into how the email was cleared for publication.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

British police sorry after they posted 'racist' Tweet with the words 'Officers 1 Immigrants 0' following raid on suspected illegal workers

Immigrants are a race?

Police have issued a grovelling apology after they posted a Tweet with the words 'Officers 1 Immigrants 0' which was branded xenophobic and racist.

Surrey Police were left red faced after they wrote the Tweet along with the hashtag 'We Will Catch Up With You' following an operation against illegal immigrants resulted in several people being detained.

However within minutes of the posting, at 9.30pm on Thursday night, dozens of people had replied to the Guildford Beat police site, accusing them of being over the top.

The original Tweet described how officers along with members of the UK Border Agency had carried out a raids at a mobile carwash in Sainsbury's in Burpham near Guildford, which resulted in eight people being detained.

One user called Dan Maguire wrote: 'Just seen the @Guildford Beat tweet. They shouldn't be allowed on the streets let alone Twitter if that is the attitude they have.'

Disabled pensioner is banned from using Sainsbury's home delivery service 'for calling their driver a coloured gentleman'

Marian Burke, 73, from Highgate, north London, says she used the term entirely innocently to refer to a ‘lovely’ deliveryman

However Sainsbury's says she has used racist language on three separate occasions and has been banned from using other words

Marian Burke, 73, says she used the term entirely innocently to refer to a ‘lovely’ deliveryman who works for the supermarket. But she says a manager at Sainsbury’s immediately branded her a racist for saying the word and said her custom was no longer welcome.

Last night the supermarket insisted the ban was justified and accused Mrs Burke of using a ‘racial slur’ on three separate occasions while being aggressive towards staff.

But wheelchair-bound Mrs Burke, who has a Kenyan carer, strenuously denied the charge and said Sainsbury’s should be ashamed of its actions.

Mrs Burke, who suffers from osteoporosis and cannot leave the house, says she is completely dependent on the delivery service for her £80 weekly shop.

Being unfamiliar with computers means online delivery is not an option, so for the last ten years she has phoned the supermarket with her shopping list of food and household goods.

After a string of mistakes in recent weeks with deliveries arriving without several essentials, she called the shop to inform them of their error. She recalled: ‘When the manager asked me what the name of the delivery driver was, I had to tell him that I didn’t know. I said to him, “I don’t know his name, but he was a lovely coloured gentleman”.’

She continued: ‘Then all hell broke loose. The man on the other end of the phone called me a racist, and said they would never again take an order from me.’

Last night a Sainsbury’s spokesman claimed the company’s ban came after Mrs Burke had been ‘aggressive’ and used ‘racial slurs’. He said: 'Mrs Burke's version of events does not reflect our experience of her. She was not solely banned for the use of the word 'coloured' but for a range of racial slurs on three separate occasions, used in an aggressive manner against our colleagues.

Last night one of Mrs Burke’s two carers said: ‘I heard the phone call. She was not rude and she was not racist at all.’

Using the term ‘coloured’ to refer to black people is considered to be offensive because it dismisses everyone who is not white as the same.

The term was in widespread use in Britain in the 1960s but is now viewed by many to be racist.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

A White House national security official has been fired after it was discovered he was behind an anonymous Twitter account that criticised the Obama administration.

Jofi Joseph was non-proliferation director on the National Security Council and was involved in nuclear negotiations with Iran.

His postings on the @NatSecWonk account, which no longer is available on Twitter, often took shots at US administration policy and figures, including Secretary of State John Kerry and Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, along with members of Congress.

One tweet said: "More people should be asking why John Kerry installed two former aides, both with ZERO foreign policy experience, into top posts at State."

Another tweet said: "That Obama only called Kerry/Hagel AFTER he made decision with his WH aides on going to Hill underscores how all foreign policy is WH-based." The tweet referred to Obama's surprise decision in late August to seek congressional authorisation for military strikes against Syria as punishment for a chemical weapons attack in August.

Joseph could not be reached for comment. No one answered the phone at a number believed to be his.

In a statement to Politico, Joseph took "complete responsibility" for the Twitter feed, saying it started as a "parody account". He apologised to those he insulted.

A White House official confirmed that Joseph no longer works for the administration, but declined to comment further on personnel matters.

He said White House staffers cannot access social media sites such as Twitter from the White House unless they have an official, authorised account. Carney and many other senior administration officials have official Twitter accounts and often send many tweets a day.

To accuse the hugely popular Prince Harry of being a drug addict shows how far out of touch the BBC is. Although the monarchy is a great source of satisfaction to most Brits, the BBC obviously does not like the monarchy at all. Their Leftishness overcomes their Britishness

The defamatory BBC slob

The Prince

The BBC has been accused of defaming Prince Harry after a presenter read a joke that claimed he snorts cocaine. Jo Brand made the comment about the fourth in line to the throne on Have I Got News For You on Friday.

Discussing the godparents named at the christening of Prince George, the comedian said: 'George's godparents include Hugh van Cutsem - I presume that's a nickname as in Hugh van cuts 'em and Harry then snorts 'em.'

Panellist Paul Merton was seen gaping at the guest presenter, while co-creator Ian Hislop balked: 'Have we lost the lawyers?'

The corporation is now under fire for permitting the joke to be written for the pre-recorded show - and leaving it in after editing.

The presenter, a member of anti-monarchist group Republic, told the Sunday Telegraph: 'I didn’t write it. I read it out from the autocue. I thought it was funny. I don’t really understand what the fuss is about.

The Prince, a captain with the Army Air Corps who has served on two tours to Afghanistan, has previously confessed to smoking cannabis when he was 16 with older friends in the family's Gloucestershire home. But this is the first and only time he has been accused of taking class A drugs.

A Clarence House spokesman told MailOnline: 'We won't be making a comment on that. We wouldn't comment on something like that.'

Monday, October 28, 2013

University of Colorado Boulder tells students to avoid costumes including cowboys, Indians, white trash or anything potentially deemed "offensive"

University students in America have been told not to wear "offensive" halloween costumes including cowboys, indians and anything involving a sombrero.

Students at the University of Colorado Boulder have also been told to avoid "white trash" costumes and anything that portrays a particular culture as "over-sexualised"- which the university says includes dressing up as a geisha or a "squaw" (indigenous woman).

They are also asked not to host parties with offensive themes including those with “ghetto” or "hillbilly" themes or those associated with "crime or sex work."

In the letter sent by a university official students are asked to consider the impact that their costumes could have.

Christina Gonzales, the dean of students, wrote: "Making the choice to dress up as someone from another culture, either with the intention of being humorous or without the intention of being disrespectful, can lead to inaccurate and hurtful portrayals of other people's cultures.

A university spokesman called cowboy costumes a "crude stereotype"

Students at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities have also been asked to make sure their Halloween costumes are politically correct.

This is mainly the typical trawling for "offence" that is something of a blood-sport in Britain.

The Nazi salute and the Red Hand of Ulster salute are similar but are quite different in concept. In the Fascist salute the arm is held out just slightly elevated. In the Red Hand salute the hand is held high -- to make sure enemies see it. And, perhaps because the two salutes can slide into one-another, the soldiers even made clear that it was the Ulster salute by photographing it against a backdrop of an Ulster flag and a Loyalist flag.

The Northern Irish antagonisms are still fierce. The fighting and bombing there has died down only because huge walls have been built between the two communities. Politically correct bleatings will be completely ignored by both sides

In an image which will cause widespread outrage, two serving British soldiers appear to give Nazi-style salutes while standing to attention in front of the Union Flag.

Apparently taken at an Army base in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, the photograph will provoke international disgust as Remembrance Day approaches.

Last night the Ministry of Defence told The Mail on Sunday that both soldiers have been investigated by Army chiefs. A spokesman said: ‘The two people doing the salute in the photo have been spoken to. 'This sort of behaviour has no place in the Armed Forces. We take such matters seriously.’

The Ministry of Defence yesterday confirmed that the men in the photograph were genuine soldiers.

The photograph also shows the flag of Northern Ireland, while the Union Flag is inscribed with ‘Invicta Loyal’ – the name of a Glasgow Rangers supporters’ club, based in Kent.

There is a suggestion that the gesture may be a ‘Red Hand of Ulster’ salute, a gesture once used by Rangers football fans to show allegiance with Northern Irish Loyalists.

But Mr Mann, the MP for Bassetlaw, added: ‘Whether they call it a “Red Hand salute” or whatever makes absolutely no difference – this is one of the most offensive gestures they could make in the modern world.’

The Ministry of Defence said the men had been subjected to ‘administrative action’ – a process of investigation with possible punishment if the personnel are found to have breached Army regulations.

Soldiers are allowed to belong to political parties, but are banned from political marches and demonstrations, and are expected to abide by Army values.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

That naughty word "illegal"

The new Australian conservative government has started to call illegal immigrants illegal. Shock! Horror! And in a splendid example of projection (seeing your own faults in others) the Leftist rant below calls the new accurate terminolgy "a brutish manipulation of language". All the Leftist euphemisms ("Asylum seeker", "undocumented person") are not "a brutish manipulation of language", of course.

As it happens, there would be very few real asylum seekers among the illegals concerned. They are mostly just economic immigrants -- in search of higher pay and more generous welfare. So it IS the Left who are guilty of "a brutish manipulation of language". The illegals concerned are mostly Muslims and mostly come via Pakistan and Indonesia, two Muslim countries. So they already have asylum in those countries before they set out for Australia. Paying a lot of money to get from those countries to Australia is an economic decision, not the product of being unsafe. They are escaping poverty, not persecution

Let us call a spade a spade shall we, Scott Morrison? Your edict, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, that detention staff and members of your department now refer to asylum seekers as "illegal maritime arrivals" is shameless and shameful.

It is a brutish manipulation of language to suit your, and your government's, political purposes.

This week The Sun-day Age published an email written by a department official to detention centre staff that states: "The department has received correspondence from the minister clarifying his expectations about the department's use of terminology." People who arrived by boat were to be referred to as illegal maritime arrivals. Those held in detention centres were to be known as "detainees", rather than "clients".

The minister subsequently said he wouldn't apologise for "not using politically correct language to describe something that I am trying to stop".

"I'm not going to engage in some sort of clever language to try and mask anything here," he said. "I'm going to call a spade a spade. People who have entered Australia illegally by boat have illegally entered by boat. "I've never said that it is illegal to claim asylum. That's not what the term refers to. It refers to their mode of entry."

Mr Paterson earlier this month said that he would apply a “Morris dancing filter” to ensure that European Union money would not be spent on inappropriate schemes under the reformed Common Agricultural Policy.

His comments have angered the Treacle Eater Clog troupe of Morris dancers who have now demanded an apology from the Cabinet Minister for making “derogatory” comments about their hobby.

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester Mr Paterson said: “What I also want to put in place is what I call a Morris dancing filter. There have been mistakes in the past and I want to make absolutely sure they are good schemes that deliver good worthwhile projects that are good for the economy and good for the environment.”

Julia Catovsky, secretary of the group of Morris dancers, based in Somerset, wrote: “Many of our members have been Morris dancers for 30-plus years and we are saddened that you have used the term ‘Morris Dancer filter’ in this derogatory manner to imply wasting funds on inappropriate rural projects.”

She added: “The 10,000-plus Morris dancers in this country of all ages and from a wide range of backgrounds, both rural and urban, receive no funding from either the UK government or the EU subsidy in pursuance of our minority sport.

Friday, October 25, 2013

The family of a Colorado preacher’s wife is still fuming after the director of the city-owned cemetery refused to engrave her final resting place with the name ‘Jesus’ because it might offend people. The city eventually reversed course under public pressure.

“We were in disbelief,” said Stacy Adams, the daughter-in-law of Linda Baker. “Who tries to censor Jesus from a cemetery?”

Linda Baker lost her battle with cancer last week. She was the wife of Mark Baker, the pastor of Harvest Baptist Church in Ovid.

Adams said her mother-in-law was passionate about her Christian faith and her family. Her final wish was to have her cemetery marker engraved with the ichthys, a symbol of early Christianity. She also wanted the word ‘Jesus’ written inside the fish.

“At first they told us it wouldn’t fit,” Adams told me. “But after we kept pushing them the cemetery director told us that it might offend somebody. They weren’t going to allow it.”

The family was devastated and asked the cemetery director to reconsider. He refused. “He said, ‘What if somebody wanted to put a swastika?” she recounted. “My reply was, so what if they do? It’s not my business how they want to be remembered.”

The family then took their concerns to the Sterling city manager – but once again they were rebuffed. “He refused to work with us,” she said. “He said he would have to take it to the city attorney. They were being difficult.”

She said city officials kept telling them that people would be offended by the name of Christ. “We weren’t asking for a six-foot neon sign,” she said. “We did not want to put a cross on everyone’s tombstone. It’s a six-inch fish with the name ‘Jesus ‘ on it.”

So the family decided to post their plight on Facebook – and that’s when the city had a change of heart. “We gave them fair warning,” she said. “We gave them time to do the right thing.”

Sterling City Manager Joe Kiolbasa told 9news.com they would no longer censor religious references on headstones and cemetery markers. He said the cemetery manager made a mistake.

So this is a political pamphlet that’s been distributed to residents living in the Queensland seat of Moreton. A similar pamphlet was reportedly distributed in the Victorian seat of Issacs. And in the Queensland seat of Petrie.

This is not about Labor or Liberal. This is not about Government versus Opposition. This is not even about left or right. This is about right and wrong.

Suggesting that somehow same sex couples are harming their own children is sick and insulting in the extreme. To imply that the children of gay and lesbian Australians love their parents any less because of their sexuality, is abhorrent.

About time somebody spoke up for the children. The best evidence is that children need BOTH mothers and fathers. See e.g. here. You can get by with one parent but two give the child much more. In my view, a child has a RIGHT to know, and have at least some contact with, both their natural mother and father. Frustrating though it is to lesbians, ALL children do so far have a natural mother and father.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

For context, The High Court of Australia ruled a few years ago that the word "n*gger" is not offensive in Australia

Pix at source. The costumes were obviously donned by people with only vague knowledge of Africa. There were Red Indians, tongue-poking Maoris and the KKK portrayed -- as well as simple blackface

The whole thing was obviously just naive fun with no knowledge of American hypersensitivity

AN AUSTRALIAN woman has been forced to defend herself amid accusations of racism by international websites.

The woman, named Olivia, threw a 21st birthday party with an African theme, in which guests were asked to wear costumes in line with the world's second largest continent and, as with most post-party photos, uploaded the shots to her Facebook page.

In the pics, some attendees have painted their faces black which have some up in arms.

The photos surfaced soon after on Tumblr user BlackinAsia's account and American websites were quick to pick up.

"This is what resulted … blackface, elephant and gorilla costumes, warpaint, Native American headdresses (?!) and more …. I'm at a loss for words," wrote BlackinAsia. "And yes, this is from 2013.

"The girl posted the pictures proudly and flatly refused to take them down when confronted by another individual about how they were racist apparently. Pictures were reported to Facebook weeks ago and they still have not been taken down. Wow.

Buzzfeed have since deemed the party pics "incredibly offensive." Meanwhile, Jezebel, whose story runs with the headline, "Racist 21st Birthday Party Gleefully Documented on Facebook" describes the pictures as "ignorance, insensitivity and racism ahoy!"

In a response on Tumblr, which she has now deleted, Olivia defended herself, writing, "It was my 'African themed' party and it was honestly made that theme because I have always wanted to go to Africa (to teach English) but haven't made it there yet. In no way was this party intended to hurt anyone's feelings or upset anyone at all.

"However, some guest (sic) did decide to paint themselves, although this was in no way my intention or encouraged in the slightest. I understand that this has offended some people and I have no idea how these photos have even been seen, they were simply put on Facebook for my guests to see the photos of themselves.

"I am 100% sure that parties would be held that would be 'Australian themed' or American themed or even countries of the world, and in that instance I don't believe anyone would be offended. People wear Oktoberfest costumes to parties and no one cracks it that they are not German? So what I am saying is I do understand the people who have painted themselves have offended people, although none of them intended that …. but how can people be annoyed that the majority of the people at the party were celebrating another countries culture."

She continues to describe a Mauritian friend who painted himself white for the party, but interestingly those photos did not make the cut in BlackinAsia's post.

She maintains she never received a request to take the images offline. "To be honest I am not a racist person at all so I didn't think anyone could possibly take it that way."

Australian fashion retailer Best & Less has apologised to disgruntled commentators on social media after its latest catalogue was attacked for carrying racial overtones.

The cover of the retailer’s latest catalogue depicts a dark-skinned woman eating a watermelon and a small group of its Facebook followers were quick to point out the likeness to racial iconography used in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries.

“I hope it's just the case that you didn't know the cultural reference instead of being racist,” one man posted on Best & Less’ Facebook page on Sunday. “Imagine if you run this in USA.”

Best & Less marketing director Jee Moon told Fairfax Media her team were unaware of the American stereotype when they designed the cover, which was meant to “celebrate summer,” using a diverse range of models to reflect its broad customer base.

“I genuinely was unaware of [the stereotype] until yesterday, it’s not from a point in time and a culture that I’m familiar with - if we had known we wouldn't have done it,” she said.

“It really was not the intention to offend anyone. That said, I’m not apologising for including different women and in breaking the mould. “Throughout our catalogues we have had a theme of celebrating real women.”

Best & Less apologised for the misunderstanding in a Facebook post on Tuesday, which received 204 likes and 117 comments within its first couple of hours of going live.

“We apologise if anyone is offended by our catalogue cover - this is not at all our intent,” it read. “We're proud to show greater diversity of ages, sizes and ethnicity in our models, which is reflective of our wonderfully broad customer base.” “Thank you for sharing your perspective on the cover and again, please accept our apologies for any offence caused.”

While many people assumed the oversight was innocent, they were critical of the retailer’s advertising department for its lack of awareness.

“Although unintentional, it does warrant an apology and discussion in the advertising department about people researching the possible effects of their creative choices before going to print,” Monique Kowalcyzyk posted.

Others were more sympathetic. “Why would you be apologising for embracing diversity?” Nikki Bee said. Are you now ashamed of the campaign?”

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Feminist jealousy at work

Lorde is the stage name for a talented 16-year-old New Zealand singer whose sparse and catchy indie pop has gained her significant notoriety over the last couple of months.

Lorde’s chart-topping single “Royals” has primarily driven her rise to popularity. However, in a recent Feministing article, Veronica Bayetti Flores described the song as “deeply racist,” ascribing a hateful intent to the song’s lyrics that, to any reasonable person, simply poke fun at rap’s culture of excess. These are the “offensive” lyrics:

But every song’s like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin’ in the bathroom

Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin’ the hotel room,

We don’t care, we’re driving Cadillacs in our dreams.

But everybody’s like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece.

Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash.

We don’t care, we aren’t caught up in your love affair.

As usual, privileged American feminists are doing the eminently meaningful work of being offended on behalf of a group they aren’t even a part of. Veronica Bayetti Flores, a white and/or hispanic woman, writes for a major website but apparently does not even know the definition of racism:

Racism: noun: : A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

In the least charitable interpretation of Lorde’s lyrics, she is blasting the hip hop culture for embracing materialism and insisting that her own group (Females? New Zealanders? Indie pop artists?) are not trapped by such vices. It would be an incredible jump in logic to make even the flimsiest of arguments that she is citing her race’s superiority over another’s rather than simply criticizing the behavior of a particular group.

The author’s incoherent diatribe also ignores other parts of the lyrics that seem to reference stereotypically white excess — I can’t remember the last rap video I saw featuring “ball gowns” and “trashing hotel rooms” (a cliché for predominantly white rock-and-roll bands). Are these references racist as well? Most likely, that these are the words of a girl getting into an industry driven by appearances and citing the hypocrisy and ostentation therein.

Even if one ignores the dig at white stereotypes and insists that Lorde is solely criticizing the world of rap, why is it forbidden for a person to critique a culture that is steeped in excess and ostentation while the community that dominates its fanbase remains largely low in socioeconomic status and unable to create wealth? Have we reached a point where any criticism of a subset of a racial group is met with a reactionary branding as “racist” and shamed out of existence?

Must not comment on the American-Indian-ness of people who dress as American Indians

They draw attention to themselves as Indians and then don't want anyone to notice?

University of South Dakota officials said they plan to strengthen student conduct policies and do more work on cultural sensitivity after a racial incident during the school’s Dakota Days parade.

USD Dean of Students Kim Grieve said the actions are in response to an episode that happened just before the parade Oct. 5. Rosebud native Alexis Oskolkoff said she and her 10-year-old son, Joseph, were dressed in tribal regalia and walking to meet their group when students on a nearby float yelled out, “Look at those Indians,” and began making war whoops with their hands to their mouths.

The look on her son’s face at that moment nearly broke her heart, said Oskolkoff, 30, a senior at USD majoring in anthropology and Native Studies.

“He was really upset,” she said. “You could tell it hurt his feelings. I shouted at them so they stopped. I mean, I’m used to having racial things said to me. But when it comes to my son, I put my foot down. I’m not going to let them do that to my son.”

Grieve called the incident “very, very disappointing, very troubling. The university as a whole is very disappointed.”

Representatives from Strollers, the university’s oldest student-run organization and the group responsible for the float from which the taunts came, apologized verbally and in writing to Oskolkoff and her son last Thursday.

Strollers adviser Lindsay Sparks said the taunters have not been identified. But Strollers president Chris Jahr, who was not present at the time of the incident, said apologizing was the right thing for him and his group to do.

Monday, October 21, 2013

The New Broadcast Profanity: ‘Redskins'?

Conservatives begin by revering tradition; liberals often by trashing it. In fact, it doesn't bother liberals that something they found acceptable one day is declared — by them — repugnant the next. It's taken only a few days of liberal media agitation for MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell to announce that Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is "the George Wallace of the NFL."

Snyder saying he'll never change his team's name has somehow become historically comparable to George Wallace's "segregation forever." It's suddenly so offensive, apparently, that the leftists who have gone to court to make the airwaves safe for every profanity imaginable, in the name of free speech and tolerance, are now petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to ban "the R-word" from television.

They're urging the broadcasters to "self-regulate" the team name out of existence. But why would you petition the FCC to urge the media to self-regulate? It's nonsensical — unless self-regulation is merely a first step.

The word "Redskins" is so apparently offensive they've made the team sound like a porn film. Here is the insanity: They'd be less offended — and in some circles of the libertine community, openly supportive — if Snyder renamed the team the "Foreskins."

These liberals are not reflecting a nation's outrage. They are attempting to create it. Only 11 percent of Americans (and 10 percent of Native-Americans) are offended by "Redskins,"

The company premiered a major Halloween event this month titled "Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure." The show is reportedly supposed to be a twist on the plot line for "The Wizard of Oz," but incorporates major events and figures within popular culture throughout the course of the past year.

The "protagonists" of the show, Bill and Ted, reportedly get sucked into the land of Oz (by Cory Monteith's ghost) and must kill a number of witches in order to return home. For some reason, Superman joins the two on their witch-hunting quest -- that is, until a witch sprinkles the Man of Steel with fairy dust that turns him gay.

We're not sure which is worse -- the blatantly stereotyped and homophobic depictions of Superman or the audience's roaring laughter and applause.

According to Vice: "Superman's voice and posture changes. His lips purse, his toes point inward, and his wrists become limp. His new voice sounds like a homophobic uncle doing a drunken impression of Richard Simmons, complete with lisps and frequent use of the word "faaaaaaabulous!"... Then, because Superman is now gay, he minces over to Bill and Ted, blows kisses at them, and slaps Ted on the ass. As he does this, Bill and Ted say "awwww dude!" with disgusted voices... General Zod tells Superman to get on his knees. Because Superman is now gay, he assumes this is an invitation to give Zod oral sex. "Finally!" he squeals."

Sunday, October 20, 2013

A lingerie advert has been banned from Australian television by censors for being too sexist. The Advertising Standards Board upheld a complaint about it being in poor taste.

The clip features a woman in underwear walking into a garage to ask a worker behind the counter 'can you fit me?'

Created by Crisp Advertising in North Adelaide, its message was designed to convey that Innerware Lingerie offered free bra fittings.

But the board ruled that the content breached a section of the advertising standards code which stipulates that 'advertising or marketing communications shall treat sex, sexuality and nudity with sensitivity to the relevant audience,' reported The Australian.

'The board considered that the advertisement did have a strong sexual suggestion with the combination of the woman wearing lingerie, her sexualised strutting, the focus on her body and the sexualised conversation,' the case report said.

As a secular humanist leftist, I was first drawn to Real Time with Bill Maher, several years ago, because of Bill Maher’s critiques of the religious right... In little time, however, I came to see that many of Maher’s critiques, lacking in substance, make up for their evidential deficiencies by appealing to thinly-disguised racist, sexist, and classist stereotypes. In place of attacking ideas, Maher tends to attack character.

I first hinted at Maher’s racism in his racialized conception of Islam. In many ways, Maher sees himself carrying the new “White Man’s Burden,” censuring the Arab and Muslim world for its “backward” ways, while failing to recognize the role the imperialist West has played in consistently destroying democracy and propping-up dictatorships in the region.

Up there with Fox News, as common butts of Maher’s “jokes,” aside from Muslims, aside from Arabs, aside from the religious, aside from—as we will see in the final part of this article—the economically disadvantaged, the mentally ill and more, are both people of color and women. There is no shortage of examples.

Let’s jump right in. In one of the more well-known instances, Maher warned his viewership before the 2012 presidential elections, if you’re thinking about voting for Romney, you better watch out. “Black people know who you are and will come after you.” What a knee-slapper, Bill. Good one!

In another, when Obama (predictably) refused to fight for any serious punishment for B.P.’s 2010 gulf oil spill, instead of criticizing him as, you know, a person, Maher criticized him as a black man. “I thought when we elected a black president, we were going to get a black president,” Maher lamented. “You know, this [oil spill] is where I want a real black president. I want him in a meeting with the B.P. CEOs, you know, where he lifts up his shirt where you can see the gun in his pants. That’s—‘We’ve got a motherf-cking problem here? Shoot somebody in the foot.’” HOW FUNNY. He’s not racist, Maher assures us. He loves Obama! He voted for Obama! He donated one million dollars to Obama’s campaign!

To Maher, black men are simply stereotypes to be used as joke material. Back in February, in regard to Herman Cain working for Fox News, Maher tweeted “Man, #HermanCain is making a comeback – says he likes working with Fox team, particularly some of them fine-ass white women they got there.”

Boyce Watkins recalls “Maher once made a joke to Dr. Cornel West about Dr. West ‘making booty calls,’” writing “I cringed while watching West, a devout Christian and Professor of Theology, uncomfortably wiggle his way out of the joke without becoming offended. Only a misguided individual would assume that Dr. West understands or engages in regular ‘booty calls’ just because he happens to be a black man. Maher would never have targeted such a joke at Joe Biden.”

Friday, October 18, 2013

Daily Mail Online today is running a piece lifted more or less intact from a webzine named The Kernel, not previously known to me but mainstream center-left to judge from the articles—if you’re traveling leftwards, about midway between the New York Times and The Guardian.

The gist of both pieces is that Amazon should stop selling, or be stopped from selling, books with an anti-Semitic or white nationalist theme.

As a commercial enterprise, Amazon will undoubtedly fold under pressure of this kind and institute controls over what books it accepts for sale. The controls will be devised by the usual Cultural Marxist geeks

The resulting exclusions will sooner or later—probably sooner: the Left is brimming with confidence right now—embrace any writer more controversial than David Brooks.

London’s Charing Cross Road used to have a number of specialist bookstores whose patrons left with their purchases well-concealed in brown paper bags. Perhaps the Internet will develop some equivalent.

Or perhaps we shall fall back at last on government protection. I see that Richard Spencer’s upcoming National Policy Institute conference is to be held in a federally-owned building—the only kind of place left in our demented society where we can be sure that First Amendment liberties will be honored.

On Sunday, Phil Mushnick, the New York Post wrote a column questioning the character of Adrian Peterson in light of the tragic death of his son. The rest of the media is fit to be tied over it. Now, Mushnick's point was, okay, look, he's a great athlete; doesn't make him a great person. Why is everybody writing about this guy as a great person?

There have been countless sportswriters and blogs and websites that have just taken Mushnick to the woodshed. You know the background. Peterson's two-year-old son was recently killed in a fit of alleged abuse by the child's mother's boyfriend. Hours after the murder became national news, Peterson said he's ready to play football. The media applauded. He's gonna able to balance everything and so forth.

Now, Mushnick, in his column, didn't like that narrative, said hell with that. He thought the media praise for Peterson was unfounded because Peterson just ain't a great guy. Here's some quotes: "Thus it was unsurprising Peterson’s downside went ignored. In 2009, he was busted for driving 109 mph in a 55 mph zone. He dismissed that as no big deal, which was doubly disturbing -- his older, full brother was killed by a reckless driver. Last summer, Peterson was in a club when he and friends were informed that it was closing time, past 2 a.m. Apparently, Peterson and pals felt they would decide when it was time to close. The police report noted three cops were needed to subdue Peterson."

So that's how it began. And then he wrote: "The suspect in the beating murder of Peterson’s 2-year-old is the boyfriend of Peterson’s 'baby mama' -- now the casual, flippant, detestable and common buzz-phrase for absentee, wham-bam fatherhood." Oh, they hated that. Oh. Oh. "Baby mama," everybody loves that term, and here's Mushnick putting it in proper context.

Then he wrote: "The accused, Joseph Patterson, previously was hit with domestic assault and abuse charges. With his resources, how could Peterson, the NFL’s MVP, have allowed his son to remain in such an environment? Did he not know, or not care? Or not care to know? Or not know to care? Peterson couldn’t have provided his son a better life, a longer life? Money can’t buy love, but having signed a $96 million deal, he could not have provided his child -- apparently his second from a 'baby mama' -- a safe home?"

Thursday, October 17, 2013

His comments about Julie Chen, Kanye West and "Monster Moonves" live on, though his page has been taken down.

It was a train wreck while it lasted. Hugh Jackman's former producing partner John Palermo (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) has taken down his incendiary Facebook page, which had Hollywood buzzing about its plentiful racist comments.

"I'm crazy about Julie Chen!!!" he wrote Sept. 12 after the Big Brother host discussed her early career eye surgery. "Now that her eyes are finally open, she should leave Monster Moonves."

The same day, regarding news that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West had moved into a Bel-Air house: "There goes the neighborhood!!! It looks like a Poor Persian Palace, where's Kris Jenner when you need her?! #MoneyCantBuyADumbNiggaClass."

And in response to an article about Anderson Cooper attending the opening of his boyfriend's gay bar, he simply typed: "#SmellsLikeLubeAndHIV."

Industry colleagues have speculated that Palermo, who left his Fox lot perch after his contract expired more than a year ago, has flamed out.

Julie Chen had her eyes Westernized; Moonves is head of CBS; It does generally reduce property values when blacks move in and homosexuals do have a greater need for lubricant. All those things are facts but you must not refer to them, apparently.

Look no further than the text messages between then-Superintendent Richard Como and then- director of athletics and activities Jim Donato, which were leaked to the Chester County District Attorney's Office and include dozens of uses of racial epithets, according to a transcript.

"All should just have whatever first names they want . . . then last name is N-----!," Donato wrote to Como, according to the Daily Local. "Leroy N-----, Preacher N-----, Night train n-----, clarence n-----, Latoya n-----, Thelma n----- and so on."

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

A lollipop man [road-crossing warden for schoolchildren] has quit his post after he was threatened with suspension for high-fiving school children by council bosses.

Bob Slade, 65, had been a crossing patrol supervisor outside the Manadon Vale primary school in Plymouth, Devon, for four-and-a-half years.

But the former dockyard worker resigned after Plymouth City Council said he would be suspended for four weeks for high-fiving children - which they said was a safety concern.

Mr Slade said: 'I really enjoyed the job. I have been doing it for more than four years without a single accident.

'The parents were all happy for me to do so and I would always ensure their safety but once the council told me I would be suspended, I thought it was best I resigned.

"They told me to be very friendly with the children when I first got the job, which I did.'

Parents of children at the school have backed Mr Slade and slammed the 'ridiculous' council decision.

Helen Delamer posted: 'A lollipop person needs to have a good rapport with the kids so they ALWAYS cross with him/her. Plymouth Councillers need to each, in turn, try doing that job themselves before coming out with this nonsense.'

Former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood was condemned by students yesterday for his ‘vulgar and sexist’ stage show at a freshers party.

The 56-year-old compere made comments to his teen audience about their genitalia - singling out specific revellers for lewd comments and unwanted advances.

He was the guest DJ at Leicester University’s We Love R&B gig at the O2 Academy in Leicester on Saturday.

At one point he was heard shouting over the microphone: ‘Girl in the front row with the black dress on, I will be f****** you later.’

‘The impression I gained from the girls I was clubbing with was that he was plain derogatory and, although a commendable DJ, had no place in our O2 Academy if he wished to conduct himself in such a manner.’

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Indiana High School Bans Classic Country Song because it mentions alcohol

A high school in Indiana decided recently to ban the classic country song “Rocky Top” from football games because the song’s references to “moonshine” are supposedly “politically incorrect,” as WNDU.com puts it.

“We have a hard time seeing how we can continue to let our whole school body, student body celebrate to a song that’s about alcohol,” said Plymouth School Superintendent Dan Tyree, who is responsible for the ban.

Plymouth High School has for the past 20 years featured the song prominently in its football games. It has been the signature of the Plymouth Rockies, played after all scoring plays at the stadium they call “The Rockpile.”

“Somebody brought it up to me a couple of weeks ago,” Tyree told Fox 28, “and said ‘you guys celebrate to Rocky Top after every touchdown and the song talks about going into the hills and living the good life and drinking moonshine.’”

“I think schools need to take a stand against the use of alcohol and playing a song like that and celebrating to it after every touchdown, and our school scores a lot of touchdowns, you know it just doesn’t make sense,” he said, adding that he was unaware until recently that the song referenced alcohol.

Recent reports claim the school’s students have taken to singing the song a capella [unaccompanied] from the stands.

They do in Britain. Britain would be very leaky without its Polish plumbers

TV presenter Adrian Chiles has been forced to apologise over jokes about Polish football fans.

Chiles, whose mother is Croatian, blundered during ITV's coverage of England's 4-1 win over Montenegro when discussing the next World Cup qualifying match at Wembley against Poland.

Speaking at the end of the match, Chiles said: 'It’s practically a home game for Poland – 15,000 Poles will be in here, I’m sure.'

Pundit Lee Dixon then responded: 'Hopefully, they’re all crying at the end.' To which Chiles said: 'I’m trying to get some building work done at the moment, quite seriously. Be careful.'

In a statement, Chiles said: 'I made the remark in relation to the nice Polish builders currently working at my place, who I knew would already be fed up having watched their team lose to Ukraine.

'No offence was intended - apart from anything else I could hardly be prouder of my own East European background. 'But to anyone who thought what I said constituted some kind of lazy stereotyping, and was offended by it, I certainly apologise.'

Monday, October 14, 2013

Italy’s soccer fans rebel against political correctness

There are great and historic "tensions" (read: "contempt") between Northerners and Southerners in Italy and the Soccer barons seem to have decided that they are just the people to fix that: Arrogance on a truly Leftist scale

In a country not known for its political correctness – not least among politicians – an excessive display of zeal by Italy’s football federation has enraged fans and risks leading to most top-flight Serie A matches being played in empty stadiums.

The federation stunned Italy’s leading clubs this week by ruling that AC Milan, owned by the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, should play its next home game on October 20 before an empty house as punishment for chants by hardcore fans, known as “ultras”, in last Sunday’s match against Turin’s Juventus.

“We are not Neapolitans,” the ultras chanted against their northern rivals. In Italy’s football lexicon, this translates as, “We are not thieves” – an oft-repeated dig against Juventus, which was stripped of its Serie A championship titles in 2005 and 2006 for match-fixing.

In applying its sanction and a €50,000 fine, the Italian federation, FIGC, deemed this to be “territorial discrimination”, a new category of offence added to a list of racist and ethnic taunts that Uefa, the European football association, recently ruled should be punished by a stadium ban.

As long as anyone can remember, Italy’s fans have hurled insults at each other – and enjoyed it. “Juliet is a tart,” declared one banner waved by Napoli’s fans in a game against northern Verona, where tourists flock to the balcony made famous in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

In a splendid display of unity among rival fans that has put FIGC in a corner, “ultras” from Inter Milan, Juventus, Genoa and others are warning that they intend to engage in “territorial discrimination” at the next round of Serie A matches – defying the federation to close their stadiums, too.

Even Napoli’s ultras have defended their right to be insulted. In a display of self-irony, fans of the light-blues chanted “Napoli cholera!” and unfurled a banner challenging FIGC to silence them, too.

The student group organizing a discussion about the Second Amendment has publicly criticized the university for restrictions placed on the promotion of the event, as well as on the raffle prize.

In a post on the Young Americans for Freedom website, Kathleen D’Urso, president of the university’s YAF chapter, wrote that she was “shocked by the degree of political correctness shown by administrators on this issue.”

However, university officials said they were trying to send a consistent message to students about firearms on campus.

Bay Buchanan, who was U.S. Treasurer during the Reagan administration, is set to speak Wednesday evening. According to the organization's website, the goal of YAF is "to advocate for the ideas of limited government, individual freedom, free enterprise, traditional values and a strong national defense."

Initially, YAF wanted to promote the event with advertisements that interspersed images of Reagan, Buchanan and an antique shotgun. D’Urso said the administrators of the TCU Facebook page wouldn’t post the ad because of “gun references.”

YAF's request for permission to raffle off a concealed handgun training class to anyone over the age of 21 was not approved by the Brown-Lupton University Union.

Natalie Boone, assistant director of the BLUU, said there wasn’t an issue with YAF raffling something off. The issue was with the potential message that was being sent.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

TSA Loudspeakers Threaten Travelers With Arrest For Joking About Security

While traveling through George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Matt Miller heard a security announcement repeatedly aired on the airport intercom that left him disturbed.

“You are also reminded that any inappropriate remarks or jokes concerning security may result in your arrest,” the loudspeaker message states.

These new loudspeaker warnings remind us that the TSA continues to excel at indoctrinating Americans to be well-behaved prisoners via obedience training – reminding them that they can be disappeared if they dare speak out of turn, even in a humorous way.

This is a totally unlawful and illegitimate violation of the First Amendment and is obviously designed to intimidate travelers and stop them from complaining about aggressive grope downs which in some cases involve TSA workers touching travelers’ genitals.

The message is clear – grovel and enjoy your genitals being groped or face arrest.

The prospect of travelers cracking jokes about airport security procedures is by no means unlikely given the increasing absurdity of the policies being enforced by the TSA.

The American Civil Liberties Union instructed Tennessee superintendents to end prayer before public high school football games in order to protect “religious freedom for all your students, including your athletes, and their families who attend the games.”

More than 130 administrators received a letter from Tennessee ACLU Executive Director Hedy M. Weinberg chiding them for sponsoring prayer at the football games:

“As you know, the First Amendment prohibits government policies and practices“respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Both the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause operate to protect the religious liberty and freedom of conscience of all Americans. It is well settled that school faculty, coaches, administrators or invited clergy may not lead students in prayer or conduct a prayer during a school event.”

The ACLU claimed the state may neither promote nor prohibit religious exercise. Instead, it must remain neutral.

Not to worry though, ACLU’s Weinberg is all about preserving freedom:

“Like you, we want to preserve the sanctity of everyone’s religious freedom, including their ability to choose whether and when to pray. Like you, we do not want to see taxpayers, students and parents in your school district ostracized and excluded if they do not wish to participate in unconstitutional, state-endorsed prayer at athletic events.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Must not diss women

Controversy in the world of Bluegrass

When I started this piece on Thursday October 3, I had simply intended to write a brief acknowledgement of Junior Sisk's reasoned decision, seven months or more in coming, to remove the offensive and questionable Old Bicycle Chain from his live set.

The song, written by Billy Smith, Marilyn Smith, and Kenny Mullins, is included on "The Story of the Day I Died" and features the pointed lyrics "It is never too late to change your ways dear, fix your mistakes and take the blame..."

Had the songwriters stopped there, we wouldn't be embroiled in one of the most pointless and divisive arguments to hit the bluegrass world since someone suggested 'a big tent.'

In this song which has been variously described by some supporters as hilarious and harmless, the female spouse has caused offense by leaving the car on empty, drinking the last cup of coffee, faking headaches, and disturbing her husband's rest, and is therefore naturally threatened with "I'll whip you with an old bicycle chain" should she choose to "come back and mess 'round here."

As difficult as it may be for some readers to believe, there are those who support this song. It is hilarious, they suggest, a great novelty tune where no one is actually injured. Threats don't harm anyone, right? The associated hilarity escapes me, as it does folks much wiser than me- Pete Wernick, Laurie Lewis, Terry Herd, and Archie Warnock among them.

The Quebec government's proposal would ban “overt and conspicuous” religious symbols by government employees; Would make it mandatory to have one’s face uncovered while providing or receiving a state service; Will entrench the concept of religious neutrality in the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms

I wasn’t very proud to be a Québécois this week. The masquerade that was the unveiling of the Charter of Québécois Values deeply embarrassed me, and worried me, because this debate revealed the darker side of the Québécois soul and the less noble aspects of Quebec nationalism.

I understand the concerns of citizens who support the charter. They want some clarity around the kinds of accommodations we are prepared to make, so they don’t go too far; and they fear that certain fundamental principles — especially equality between men and women — are threatened.

But there are other, less noble reasons that some are applauding the Marois government’s project. There are, in Quebec as there are elsewhere, currents of opposition to immigration that are sometimes expressions of fear, of ethnocentrism, of involuntary xenophobia, but also sometimes of racism pure and simple.

Some comments below by a Labour Party politician, who dislikes moves underway to set up a press censorship body under a "Royal Charter". Much will depend on the final composition of the body, as yet unknown

For most people in the Labour Party, journalists, especially those working for Murdoch and the other press barons, are The Enemy.

Which is why there is near unanimity in my party in favour of state regulation. Before Lord Justice Leveson presented his conclusions, I spoke to colleagues and tried to share my reservations about what the inquiry might recommend. I was discouraged by the responses of some I would normally consider to be on the sensible wing of the party, who airily decreed that politicians had been the media’s victims for long enough. The boot was on the other foot. Payback time.

The British press is intrusive, arrogant, vicious, unfair, unbalanced and generally infuriating. What a relief! That is as it should be. Politicians and those in positions of power should be wary of journalists. We should worry about what will be reported about us and our actions. We should shudder on a Friday night when a reporter from a Sunday tabloid calls us at home to ask for “your side of the story”.

There are millions of people living in parts of this planet who would die for the experience of living in a country where the press is unafraid of the government, where journalists make their own decisions about what to publish without having to look over their shoulder at a regulator comprised of (shudder) “lay persons”.

There was a time when the Left would have been first in line to defend press freedom, with all its imperfections. Freedom of expression is the first thing to go when dictatorship looms. Labour has a proud tradition of showing solidarity with oppressed peoples throughout the world, and part of that solidarity is support for a press unencumbered by state supervision.

By supporting Parliament’s Royal Charter for press regulation, to be agreed by the Privy Council at the end of this month, my party is turning its back on a core tenet of progressive politics: that a genuinely free press, however infuriating, is an indispensable foundation stone of democracy.

Yes, at first glance the proposals in the Royal Charter seem reasonable enough. But once politicians take even an arm’s-length role in regulating anything, it’s a braver man than I who would stake his shirt on that arm not becoming shorter over time, the grip tighter. After all, who would have most to gain?

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

ATF Receives Letter from ACLU After Censorship of Fast and Furious Whistleblower

The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms has received a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union after censoring ATF Special Agent and Operation Fast and Furious whistleblower John Dodson. Dodson is expected to publish The Unarmed Truth: My Fight to Blow the Whistle and Expose Fast and Furious in January 2014, but has been told his manuscript doesn’t meet ATF’s “outside employment guidelines.”

“The backstory of how Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed by guns under ATF surveillance ignited national debates over gun policy, border security, whistleblower protections, and the techniques deployed in Operation Fast and Furious. Agent Terry's death and the law enforcement techniques it helped to expose attracted attention from the press, Congress, and the Justice Department Inspector General's office.

But now that one of the agents involved in the operation wishes to add his version to the public record on Fast and Furious, he has been forbidden from doing so by the very agency that sparked this national policy debate. We believe that both the procedures used to support ATF's publication denial, as well as the prohibition on Agent Dodson's manuscript itself, run afoul of constitutional protections for public employees,” a letter from ACLU Attorneys Lee Rowland and Mike German to ATF Deputy Director Thomas Brandon states.

Although the book is set for publication, is already on Amazon and has backing from Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell and Issa and Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley, Dodson has been told by ATF supervisors “there will be consequences” if he moves forward.

The intimidation and retaliation against Dodson up to this point from the Department of Justice and ATF for exposing Operation Fast and Furious has been fierce and calculated. Dodson has been screamed at by supervisors in front of other agents for speaking out, reassigned and even had his weapons taken away while on duty without cause.

Dodson was punished for “jumping his chain of command” by telling the truth about an operation that has left hundreds of people dead.

After being put under internal investigation by ATF, Dodson was cleared of any wrongdoing earlier this year.

The ACLU is urging ATF to approve Dodson's request for outside employment and to rewrite its outside employment policies in compliance with the First Amendment.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that could further expand the reach of its controversial ruling that political spending is a form of speech protected by the First Amendment -- and which could give the one percent even more influence over politics.

In McCutcheon v. FEC, the Court will hear a challenge to regulations on the total amount a person can contribute to political candidates. The Court's five-person majority in recent years has expressed hostility to limits on expenditures made "independent" of political campaigns, most famously in Citizens United, which struck down limits on corporate independent expenditures and paved the way for Super PACs and the scourge of dark money nonprofits. But the McCutcheon case involves a challenge to limits on how much a person can donate directly to a candidate, which the Court has previously upheld as constitutional.

What Citizens United did to the "independent expenditure" side of campaigns -- unleashing out-of-control spending by Super PACs, trade associations, and dark money nonprofits not officially coordinating with a candidate -- McCutcheon could do to the campaign contribution side.

Post-Citizens United, wealthy donors can now give unlimited amounts to Super PACs, but still must comply with limits on donations to candidates and political parties.

Under current law, individuals may give no more than $2,600 to any one federal candidate running for office and up to $48,600 spread among multiple candidates.

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

President Barack Obama says if he was owner of Washington Redskins he’d think about changing team nickname

But he's cautious not to diss the fans. There are a lot of voters among them

President Barack Obama has some serious things to worry about, like the government being shut down. But the Associated Press, during an exclusive interview, squeezed in a queston to Obama about the Redskins' nickname and the idea that it is offensive and should be changed. And Obama gave an interesting answer:

"(P)eople get pretty attached to team names, mascots," Obama told the Associated Press. "I don't think there are any Redskins fans that mean offense. I've got to say that if I were the owner of the team and I knew that there was a name of my team – even if it had a storied history – that was offending a sizeable group of people, I'd think about changing it.

"But I don't want to detract from the wonderful Redskins fans that are here. They love their team, and rightly so – even though they've been having a pretty tough time this year. But I think – all these mascots and team names related to Native Americans, Native Americans feel pretty strongly about it. And I don't know whether our attachment to a particular name should override the real, legitimate concerns that people have about these things."

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is among the other powerful people who has said that it might be time to think about changing the Redskins' team name.

Many people in Washington are attached to the Redskins name and the history behind it. It's a bit surprising during this time of more important political turmoil in Washington that Obama would offer a potentially unpopular opinion on another controversial issue.

On Saturday evening the Redskins released a statement from Lanny Davis, attorney for the team, on Obama's comments:

“As a supporter of President Obama, I am sure the President is not aware that in the highly respected independent Annenberg Institute poll (taken in 2004) with a national sample of Native Americans, 9 out of 10 Native Americans said they were not bothered by the name the ‘Washington Redskins.’ The President made these comments to the Associated Press, but he was apparently unaware that an April 2013 AP poll showed that 8 out of 10 of all Americans in a national sample don't think the Washington Redskins’ name should be changed.

"The Redskins respect everyone. But like devoted fans of the Atlanta Braves, the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Blackhawks (from President Obama's hometown), the fans love their team and its name and, like those fans, they do not intend to disparage or disrespect a racial or ethnic group. The name ‘Washington Redskins’ is 80 years old - its history and legacy and tradition. The Redskins’ fans sing 'Hail to the Redskins' every Sunday as an expression of honor, not disparagement."

It is hard to get bothered by this when GOP election signs are routinely destroyed or removed by Leftists. It's the Left who set the tone for this. Civility is for others, not for them, it would seem

Appalled and outraged. That is what township officials and police said they felt after learning of the racial slurs scrawled across campaign signs for Dr. Sudhanshu on the morning of Sept. 23.

“These are dastardly acts,” said Prasad, adding that there is no room for hate in a diverse town such as Edison, or anywhere.

He stressed that this had nothing to do with the November election in which Prasad is running for mayor against incumbent Antonia Ricigliano and three other candidates.

The campaign signs that stood side by side were defaced with a swastika and derogatory words used against Asian- Indians. The words “Never in Edison” were written on one sign. All were done in red spray paint.

The two signs, which are 4 feet by 4 feet, were located at a home on the corner of Cherry Street and Old Post Road. Now they are lodged at the campaign headquarters of Prasad and his team on Main Street.

Prasad and his campaign team joined Ricigliano, Police Chief Thomas Bryan and members of the community, including the Asian-Indian and Jewish communities, to denounce the acts at a press conference held outside the home on Sept. 23.

Monday, October 07, 2013

Must not make realistic comments about China

Lord Sugar has been investigated by police after being accused of posting a racist Twitter message, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The outspoken entrepreneur and Apprentice star posted a photograph of a crying Chinese child to 3.2 million Twitter followers, joking that the youngster was upset after being told off for leaving Apple’s iPhone production line – a reference to the Asian factories where the phones are made.

The tweet prompted a single complaint to the Metropolitan Police from a Twitter user, who referred to the Labour peer as a ‘vile racist’.

Police contacted the complainant twice, urging her to make a statement at a police station, which she eventually did, and yesterday police confirmed that officers from Merseyside’s Hate Crime Investigation Unit took several days to decide whether a crime had been committed by the Labour peer’s tweet.

However, the remark was in the end classed as a ‘hate incident’ – which means no further action will be taken, although details will be kept on file.

Last night, the TaxPayers’ Alliance condemned the police investigation, insisting officers should not waste time chasing ‘ill-thought-out tweets’.

Residents of a Florida city who have had "God Bless America" signs posted on their front lawns for months have been ordered by local officials to remove them.

MyFoxTampaBay.com reports that the First Baptist Church of Bartow distributed some 300 signs to residents following a Fourth of July celebration. The city only permits residents to display signs during major holidays is starting to crack down on the displays.

"Being a veteran, I felt like I was just kicked in the gut. I couldn't believe it, that I couldn't display my love for my nation by putting a sign up that says "God Bless America," Bartow resident Marcus Seger told the station.

Some Bartow residents disagree with the ordinance and have no plans to comply with the city's request. "This is my yard that I'm paying the taxes on. It's my right," Emmett Purvis, an area resident with a sign, told MyFoxTampaBay.com.

Sunday, October 06, 2013

Must not diss a homosexual icon

That Matthew Shepard was murdered for his homosexuality is a Leftist article of faith. On the best evidence, however, his murder was in fact simply drug related. That has been emphasized in a book released last month so some of the derision below might have been directed at the myth and the preaching rather than at the person

Some Ole Miss hate speech from students and football players disrupted a campus play, according to the Associated Press via Fox Sports on Oct. 3. As “The Laramie Project” was being performed on campus, some in the audience became extremely offensive and disruptive. The school is not happy, and it sounds like some players may be facing stiff consequences.

Reports indicate that throughout the play, which is about the murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998, some audience members laughed, took pictures on their phone, and some used “derogatory terms” for gay people during the performance. As those familiar with Shepard's story know, he was gay and his homosexuality was the reason for his murder.

The school has condemned the Ole Miss hate speech used by some students and athletes from the University of Mississippi. A group of football players has apologized, but some in the play apparently don't think it was genuine and that the players didn't necessarily seem to even understand what they were apologizing for.

ESPN shared additional details, indicating that The Daily Mississippi initially reported the incident. No specific student names or consequences have been detailed as of yet, but the school is investigating the reports of the Ole Miss hate speech incident. Those tied to the school seem to acknowledge the speech used was clearly inappropriate.

Will the Ole Miss hate speech incident lead to some game suspensions? It seems that is quite likely. While it seems the football players weren't the only ones involved in using derogatory language during the play, they definitely seem to be the focus of the criticism.

Last week’s conviction of Danish-Iranian artist Firoozeh Bazrafkan for racism, after she claimed on her blog that she was “convinced that Muslim men around the world rape, abuse and kill their daughters”, has led to free speech advocates questioning whether anti-racism laws are fair – or even effective.

Bazrafkan was convicted by the Eastern High Court for violating section 266b of the criminal code – the so-called racism law – and fined 5,000 kroner.

According to the law, it is illegal to “spread messages that threaten, taunt or degrade a group because of their race, skin colour, national or ethnic extraction, belief or sexual orientation”.

The court argued that Bazrafkan in her blog had generalised about Muslims men being criminals, and that because her statement “derided and degraded a group simply based on their faith”, she was guilty.

Bazrafkan argues, however, that her blog post was actually a criticism of Islam and not a racist generalisation of Muslims.

“It’s important to remember that I did not write that ALL Muslim men committed horrible acts and used Islamic codes to justify them, I wrote that Muslim men around the world can do these things because it is allowed according to [Islamic] codes,” she told The Copenhagen Post. “It’s not the same thing.”

She added that her conviction meant the court had limited her freedom of expression – a right that is guaranteed under article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Friday, October 04, 2013

A group of notable feminists from our northern neighbor are demanding a change to their country’s national anthem with the goal of making it more 'gender neutral.' The Globe and Mail reports:

"At issue is the line: “True patriot love in all thy sons command.” According to Restore Our Anthem, a group that includes writer Margaret Atwood and former prime minister Kim Campbell, these lyrics are exclusionary of women, and do not reflect the original intent of Robert Stanley Weir, who wrote the English words for O Canada in 1908."

The controversial lyric in question was added in 1913 for unknown reasons. But, the ‘Restore Our Anthem” group insists the change has sexist roots. Now, on the 100th anniversary of the original anthem, the feminists are starting a campaign to restore the language.

So, because of two words, feminists are attempting to hijack the Canadian national anthem. This kind of political correctness is all too common in our own country, where one year a textbook review process revealed schools had changed the term ‘Founding Fathers’ to ‘Founding Framers,’ seemingly to make it sound less male-dominant.

Other than the smooth flow these words provide, something else to consider is how many patriotic Canadians have grown up singing these exact lyrics. It’s the only anthem they know and is no doubt plastered on landmarks throughout the country.

Who is this group of grumbling women to demand a change to their fellow citizens’ beloved anthem, no matter how small it may seem? I mean, does this feminist group really think the lyrics were changed for the specific purpose of excluding females?

Nearly 150 years after the Civil War ended, the Confederate battle flag — a complicated and incendiary symbol of rebellion, slavery, Southern pride and white supremacy — is seemingly becoming a more frequent sight north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

What’s behind the popularity of the flag in the North? Is it the dark underbelly of the rapidly growing country-music scene? Disapproval of the president? An innocent revival of the rebel spirit among Yankees who don’t know — or care — what it means to the rest of society? Or something more sinister?

Some defenders of the Confederate flag say it is not inherently racist and should be flown to honor Confederate soldiers. Others, like Doug Copeland, a medical tech who said he was born in Chattanooga, Tenn., use it to show their fondness for the South.

“I’m not prejudiced at all. My granddaughter is half-black,” said Copeland, who flies a flag from his home on busy Route 724 near Phoenixville. “I just love the South. If I could live there, I would.”

Some groups, including the Virginia Flaggers — which has leased land along Interstate 95 south of Richmond and plans to erect a 12-by-15-foot Confederate flag on a 50-foot pole — have denounced the KKK and others that have used the flag for their own purposes.

Hogan said the SCV, an organization for male descendants of Confederate soldiers, encourages people to display the flag in remembrance of those who fought in the Civil War — or the Second American Revolution, as the group refers to the war on its website.

“It stands for brave men who defended their homeland against an unconstitutional invasion and represents all the good things in America,” Hogan said.

Hauber said that he doesn’t support slavery, but that the Civil War was also about states’ rights. “I’m inclined to agree with the states. They have certain rights that should be separate from the federal government,” he said. “But I’m not going to fly a Confederate flag.”

People might feel intimidated or threatened by the flag — whether that’s the intention or not — but flying it is protected by the First Amendment.

Last year, the ACLU of Delaware assisted a state Department of Transportation worker who was disciplined for displaying a Confederate-flag license plate on his car parked at work. The department later agreed with the ACLU that he was entitled to display the plate.

Thursday, October 03, 2013

Truth is NOT racist for once!

The Dean of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Arts and Sciences is Ronald Jackson, who is black. There has been a lot of dissatisfaction with him and calls for his resignation. A major point of dissatisfaction is that he has been seen as giving preference to other blacks in hiring. So when a cartoon expressed that, the reaction was surprisingly muted

Recently a racist cartoon targeting top leaders of the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences circulated across campus. The News Record pursued the story and was the first media outlet in Cincinnati to report the news.

During the course of our reporting, we faced multiple occasions where sources declined to be identified. When The News Record chose to run the original cartoon, which said Dean Ronald Jackson and Assistant Dean Carol Tonge Mack would not hire people that did not look like them, we received criticism for our decision. Some readers said running the cartoon spread hatred; others said the cartoon was not “that bad” or racially insensitive. But again, most sources wouldn’t be quoted on the record, including a constitutional law expert.

Top officials — including University of Cincinnati President Santa Ono, Provost Beverly Davenport and Student Body President Joe Blizzard — released a vague statement urging the university community to practice civility. In the statement, the cartoon was described as “crude,” but never racist or derogatory.

An online petition is claiming the Northampton Area School District's Konkrete Kid moniker is racist because of the way "Konkrete" is spelled.

The Northampton Area School District has proudly embraced its historical ties to the cement industry over the years, teaching generations of children what it means to be a Konkrete Kid.

An online petition on change.org surfaced last week, accusing the district of racism because of the way "Konkrete" is spelled.

The online petition, which lists its author as Terrance Jackson, had amassed more than 2,800 hits by early Monday evening. The author writes that the area is "well-known for its rich ties with the [Ku Klux Klan]", and joins the words "Konkrete" and "Kids" together in one stream, while uppercasing the second "k" in the first word.

And while board members and administrators came to the meeting with pens, notepads and laptops, Pany came armed with a pennant; a gift from a former student that he estimated could date back as far as 70 years. Embossed in gold writing on the navy blue felt was the moniker "Konkrete Kids". At no time, he said, has the school district ever been racist. "There's no inference that we were an intolerant school district," he said.

The spelling, they quickly point out, is simply from the German, which is commonly displayed with a K.

Is the American national anthem politically incorrect? From the 4th verse:Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

Mohammad

The truth can be offensive to some but it must be said

"HATE SPEECH" is free speech: The U.S. Supreme Court stated the general rule regarding protected speech in Texas v. Johnson (109 S.Ct. at 2544), when it held: "The government may not prohibit the verbal or nonverbal expression of an idea merely because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable." Federal courts have consistently followed this. Said Virginia federal district judge Claude Hilton: "The First Amendment does not recognize exceptions for bigotry, racism, and religious intolerance or ideas or matters some may deem trivial, vulgar or profane."

Even some advocacy of violence is protected by the 1st Amendment. In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously that speech advocating violent illegal actions to bring about social change is protected by the First Amendment "except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."

The double standard: Atheists can put up signs and billboards saying that Christianity is wrong and that is hunky dory. But if a Christian says that homosexuality is wrong, that is attacked as "hate speech"

One for the militant atheists to consider: "...it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg" -- Thomas Jefferson

"I think no subject should be off-limits, and I regard the laws in many Continental countries criminalizing Holocaust denial as philosophically repugnant and practically useless – in that they confirm to Jew-haters that the Jews control everything (otherwise why aren’t we allowed to talk about it?)" -- Mark Steyn

Voltaire's most famous saying was actually a summary of Voltaire's thinking by one of his biographers rather than something Voltaire said himself. Nonetheless it is a wholly admirable sentiment: "I disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it". I am of a similar mind.

The traditional advice about derogatory speech: "Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you". Apparently people today are not as emotionally robust as their ancestors were.

Why conservatives should not respond to Leftist abuse: "Never wrestle with a pig, because you'll both just get dirty, and the pig likes it.”

The KKK were members of the DEMOCRATIC party. Google "Klanbake" if you doubt it

A phobia is an irrational fear, so the terms "Islamophobic" and "homophobic" embody a claim that the people so described are mentally ill. There is no evidence for either claim. Both terms are simply abuse masquerading as diagnoses and suggest that the person using them is engaged in propaganda rather than in any form of rational or objective discourse.

Leftists often pretend that any mention of race is "racist" -- unless they mention it, of course. But leaving such irrational propaganda aside, which statements really are racist? Can statements of fact about race be "racist"? Such statements are simply either true or false. The most sweeping possible definition of racism is that a racist statement is a statement that includes a negative value judgment of some race. Absent that, a statement is not racist, for all that Leftists might howl that it is. Facts cannot be racist so nor is the simple statement of them racist. Here is a statement that cannot therefore be racist by itself, though it could be false: "Blacks are on average much less intelligent than whites". If it is false and someone utters it, he could simply be mistaken or misinformed.

Categorization is a basic human survival skill so racism as the Left define it (i.e. any awareness of race) is in fact neither right nor wrong. It is simply human

Whatever your definition of racism, however, a statement that simply mentions race is not thereby racist -- though one would think otherwise from American Presidential election campaigns. Is a statement that mentions dogs, "doggist" or a statement that mentions cats, "cattist"?

If any mention of racial differences is racist then all Leftists are racist too -- as "affirmative action" is an explicit reference to racial differences

Was Abraham Lincoln a racist? "You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. It is better for both, therefore, to be separated." -- Spoken at the White House to a group of black community leaders, August 14th, 1862

Gimlet-eyed Leftist haters sometimes pounce on the word "white" as racist. Will the time come when we have to refer to the White House as the "Full spectrum of light" House?

The spirit of liberty is "the spirit which is not too sure that it is right." and "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it." -- Judge Learned Hand

Mostly, a gaffe is just truth slipping out

Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)

First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean

It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.

It seems a pity that the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus is now little known. Remember, wrote the Stoic thinker, "that foul words or blows in themselves are no outrage, but your judgment that they are so. So when any one makes you angry, know that it is your own thought that has angered you. Wherefore make it your endeavour not to let your impressions carry you away."

"Since therefore the knowledge and survey of vice is in this world so necessary to the constituting of human virtue, and the scanning of error to the confirmation of truth, how can we more safely, and with less danger, scout into the regions of sin and falsity than by reading all manner of tractates, and hearing all manner of reason?" -- English poet John Milton (1608-1674) in Areopagitica

Leftists can try to get you fired from your job over something that you said and that's not an attack on free speech. But if you just criticize something that they say, then that IS an attack on free speech

The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) could have been speaking of much that goes on today when he said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

I despair of the ADL. Jews have enough problems already and yet in the ADL one has a prominent Jewish organization that does its best to make itself offensive to Christians. Their Leftism is more important to them than the welfare of Jewry -- which is the exact opposite of what they ostensibly stand for! Jewish cleverness seems to vanish when politics are involved. Fortunately, Christians are true to their saviour and have loving hearts. Jewish dissatisfaction with the myopia of the ADL is outlined here. Note that Foxy was too grand to reply to it.

There are also two blogspot blogs which record what I think are my main recent articles here and here. Similar content can be more conveniently accessed via my subject-indexed list of short articles here or here (I rarely write long articles these days)

NOTE: The archives provided by blogspot below are rather inconvenient. They break each month up into small bits. If you want to scan whole months at a time, the backup archives will suit better. See here or here